Love and Survival
by Xxlittlebookwormxx
Summary: Sakura and Shikamaru get stranded in Iwa after fighting to let their friends get home alive. Now that they somehow survived, they have to survive Iwa and get back home. While traveling, something sparks between them. But what will happen when they get back to Konoha? can their Love Suvive?
1. Chapter 1

She curled her lip as she wiped the smear of blood on her face off with her sleeve. Usually she wasnt this messy with her kills, but considering the man had called her, and she quotes 'sex on legs' she didnt feel to guilty. **"Cha Cha! Big, Fat, and Ugly got what he had coming! CHAAA~!"** Inner sakura shouted, viciously and enthusiasticly pumping her fist in the air.

At nineteen years old, sakura still had Inner Sakura occupying her head, though her outburst were much less frequent considering sakura didnt hold back her thoughts much any more. At nineteen, Sakura had also become quite the beauty. She had shoulder length, soft pink hair, a toned yet slender body that was covered in a smooth creamy layer of skin that flushed perfectly when she got embarrased or flustered. Men everywhere stopped to look, and admire the beauty before them. But that was it. Sakura was beautiful, but she had a temper that has been said to rival her shishous, and with her monsterous strength, men wilted with terror. The only males who were able to handle her, were her friends, the Rookie 9, Team Gai, and of course her boys, Team Kakashi, consisting of Naruto, Kakashi, Sai and Yamato. The rare few that actually asked her out, were either outright ignored, or by the end of the first date she had punched them through the wall. 'I might need to work a bit on that' she thought with a grimace, before looking around and seeing her team, consisting of Shino Aburame, Shikamaru Nara and Hinata Hyuga scavenging weapons and piling the bodies to burn. Eyes widening, she jumped to help. GLancing down at Big, Fat, and Ugly, she nugded his corpse with her sandle, making a face as his head flopped limply, before grabbing him and flinging him into the pyre.

Shikamaru sighed and slouched his tall broad fram into his usuall posture and mumbled what sakura was sure were various phrases about being annoyed and how troublesome this all was. She couldnt help but smirk amusedly at the familiar phrases. Soon the quiet was broken by Hinata stepping forward, her doll like visage serious and strong as usual when she was on missions, her stutter barely noticable. "Sh-Shikamaru-kun? What are our orders now?"

Shikamaru, the team leader, turned to face her, eyes contemplative. "Yeah, we have the scroll. I say we get the hell outa dodge. Being in Iwa for even a second is dangerous, and we have been here for two weeks." sakura stated, her eyes watching as shikamaru thought it through at lightening quick speeds. "Alright. lets head back home. We've completed our mission, got the scroll, and this place is a real drag." everyone let out a sigh of relief before securing their equipment and sending chakra to their legs and feet, then taking to the trees.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They had been pelting through the trees, making quite good time if sakura did say so herself, when Hinata let out a small gasp. Everyone tensed, reaching for their respective kunai pouches as they kept jumping. Looking at her sakura noticed her Byakugan Activated, veins pulsating around her lavender eyes. "Hinata?" Shikamaru barked, wordlessly asking her what she saw. Sakura hoped it was nothing to bad, because she was tired, hungry, and her chakra was steadily dropping as the day went by along with the distance they traveled. Hinata was pale, eyes wide her voice catching before she was able to get her words out. "I-it looks like we have been found...there are 12 Iwa nin about 45 meteres east of us. they are closing in fast. Seem to be 8 Jounin and 4 Chunnin based on their chakra levels. This is bad!"

'Oh crap! we cant take 12 Nin! I'm only at half my chakra reserve, i imagine the others are the same.' thought the pink haired kunoichi, eyes narrowing in frustration at the unfortunante situation. "Damn!" Shikamaru cursed, his face showing his stress with the situation. "Okay, Shino, send some bugs bag and have them discretly start draining their chakra. Hinata, keep your eyes on them, sakura be ready to pull back and heal any critical injuries as soon as you are able to. Everyone, get ready for a fight."

"They are almost here, 15 meters!" Hinata spoke through gritted teeth, a determined look on her face. Shino adjusted his sunglasses, nodding his head and shikamaru jumped into the shadows, blending into his element, his hands already going into the rat seal to harness the shadows to bend to his will. Snarling sakura tightend her gloved hands into tight fists. 'If they think they are gunna get an easy fight, they are damn well WRONG!' she roared in her head. Inner sakura was angrily beating her chest, shouting insults and peptalk all at once to Sakura.

"THEY ARE HERE!" Hinata shouted, diving back from a kunai soaring swiftly towards her head. "SHANNAROOOOO!" Sakura roared, jumping and shattering trees and earth alike as she kicked and punched out, making as much chaos could for the enemy nin. Briefly glancing back, she saw each of her team involved in fighting multiple nin, before swinging her head around only to jerk back just in tme to dodge the swing of a kantana. She jumped back to survey her fight and realized she was surrounded by three Iwa nin. She swiftly dodged a punch from the one on her left before swinging her own punch back that he himself dodged.

Punches and kick were delt out. Jutsus were flung back and forth. Kunias and shuriken and swords were slicing through the air and flesh. They were losing. ' _Shit_!' she thought, looking once again back at here teammates and hoping they were ok, and might possibly have a plan. Judging by how things looked, it was a no...until suddenly Shikamaru shot out his shadow in a huge line between them and their enimies. _'What the HELL is he doing?!'_ sakura screamed in her head _'He cant hold all of them with as little chakra he has left!'_ she was about to tell him this when he called out, getting their attention. "Guys, run. There is no way we can win this! I will keep them from chasing you for as long as i can with my shadow, NOW GET OUT OF HERE!" he ordered, sweat already beading on his brow. "No way shikamaru, we are not leaving you!" Sakura yelled, Hinata and Shino echoing her sentiments. "Guys, go! We will all die if you dont!" he growled, tense and strained. At his words, they all paused. "But, Shikamaru, we-" hinata started only to be cut off by her team leader, "Hinata, that scroll has to get to the village, please. Just go!" He said, gasping as his chakra drained away. "He is right, we need to go, he is the only one that can keep them back. Shikamaru, thankyou. We will be forever grateful. We will tell everyone what you have done." Shino said, for once his voice not monotone, but low and sad. Shikamaru nodded as Hinata and Shino Jumped in to the trees, a reluctant Sakura following after them.

As they jumped away into the trees, Shikamaru looked at his enemies his shadows were jabbing at, keeping them from moving past a certain point so that his friends and teamates could escape. He let out a weak sigh, then closed his eyes and said his last prayers as he felt the last of his chakra drain, and he felt his friends chakra getting farther away. ' _wait.'_ he thought as he felt one of their chakras actually running back to him. He was just blacking out, when he felt the ground shake and a loud "SHANNARO" echo through his ears. Then he was out.


	2. Chapter 2

' _I cant just leave Shikamaru out there to die!'_ Sakura screamed in her head. He was one of her best friends, they had known eachother since htye were six! _'If I turn back Shino and Hinata will stop me...what the hell can I do! I am not leaving him.'_

' **Use that genious brain of yours Einstein. Its obvious.'** Inner sakura pipped in. ' _If it is so obvious, why havent i thought of it yet, asshole!'_ Sakura grumbled in her head. Inner sighed and mumbled ' **I always have to do the hard work around here dont I? uhg, use a Genjutsu that you are still running with them while the real you goes back and saves Shikamaru! I mean, they are so used to your chakra, they probably wont even notice you weaving one around them!** '

"Inner, you beautiul genious you!" Sakura whispered to herself. Descreetly weaving the signs, she cast a genjutsu of her running behind them, an unapprochable look on her porclein features, While in reality she shoved off from the branch and tree hopped as fast as possible to her endangered teammate. "Im coming Shika!" She ground out. She could feel his chakra weakening. ' _No. Nononono!_ ' She screamed in her head as his chakra was almost completly gone. She felt her heart beating so hard she thought it would burst, she felt her legs straining and muscles pulsing beneath her skin, finally she jumped through the branches and landed with enough force to make the ground tremor, "SHANNARO!" she screamed, Slamming a heel into the earth and making huge crevices and gaping chasms in the ground.

Shikamaru flinched violently as he came back to awareness. Sitting up quickly, he groaned as he felt wounds tug and his head pound with chakra exhaustion. "Where...uhg...SAKURA!" his groaning mumble turning to a worried exclamaition when he remembered what he had last sensed before he went down. Looking around quickly, ignoring his head, he noticed a petite figure leaning against the wall of the cave, which he just now realized was their shelter, and that the figure was passed out.

Grunting as he shifted to get to her and see if his friend was okay, he settled next to her and rested his fingers on the pulse point on her neck. He let out a large, gutsy sigh as he realized she was okay, just really low on chakra. "Sakura, you idiot," he said, dropping his head against the small caves wall "but thank you." he knew she wasnt awake, but he had to say it. She saved his life when he was sure it was his end. He had no idea how she got away or defeated all those ninja on her own, ' _but_ ' he thought sarcasticaly ' _she is Sakura Haruno from the LEGENDARY team seven_ ' he let out a light scoff as he brushed her bangs out of her face to see the gash across her brow.

Grimacing, her slowly reached around her and pulled her pack to him and started treating both of their wounds as well as he could. he was no expert, but he had seen sakura and Ino in action enough times to get the gist of basic feild care that his own education didnt cover.

As he was putting the supplies back into her pack, he heard a low groan. Finishing what he was doing, he turned toward his companion and waited for her to come to.

 **"Wakey wakey outer!"** inner Sakura said in an attemp at a soothing voice. ' _hmm_ ' Sakura thought, wondering why inner was waking her up when she felt so crappy. **"Outer, get up, shikamaru is already awake! Get your ass uuuup!"** inner shouted, wanted her counterpart to check on their friends. "Gaaaah" Sakura groaned as her eyes were overcome by the sunlight streaming into the cave, and inners voice faded in her head.

"Good morning, or afternoon i guess..." was what she heard as her eyes finally snapped open completlely. "SHIKAMARU!" sakura shouted, then gasped when she felt her head throb with pain. "Tch, try to not be so loud troublesome woman, i have a feeling your head is hurting just as much as mine is.

"We...we made it." she murmered with a weak smile. Looking over at her long time friend she sent him a stronger smile, then frowned when she saw his state. "Shika. Come here, I'll heal you." She commanded tiredly, only to be met with an eyeroll. "Sakura, you barely have enough charkra to be awake and function, I think you should focus more on yourself right now."

Sakura rolled her eyes her self but listened to him anyway.

"Where are we, by the way?" Shikamaru questioned, scratching the tip of his nose as he looked at hs female companion for the answer. Sakura thought for a second "Hm. we are about 10 miles from where the fight took place, once I took out as many as I could, I grabbed you and ran till i couldnt anymore."

Shikamaru nodded then rubbed his temple. "How many were left when you ran?"

"3. but one was heavily injured, the others just had superficial wounds."

"How were you able to get away?" He asked quietly, mindful of both their pounding heads.

"Uhg. I threw a tree at them and caught two of them in its branches, and that was how the third one got badly wounded. Then I made a clone to run the opposite way and placed a genjustu over myself as i ran. They gave chase whn they realized it was a clone, but I lost them after the first 4 miles. I kept running till I managed to drag your self sacrificing ass into this cave." She huffed, narrowoing her eyes at him with the last sentence. "Tch, well thanks I guess." he muttered, turning his head away from her. "Shikamaru! I just risked my life to save you and you say, 'thanks i guess' !?" Sakura growled and shook her fist at him, "Why I oughta...! You little jerk! I-" She was cut off by shikamaru. "Really sakura, thankyou. I owe you my life. As troublesome as you are, you are a good friend." He said, sliding his eyes to the side and looking at her with a small smile.

Sakura met his eyes and blushed at the compliment, before turning her head. "Yeah, well, you arent to bad yourself." came her grumble. There was a pause.

"Anyways!" She exclaimed, getting back to her normal self, "How are we going to get back to fire country? Back to Konoha?"

"Hmm, well the Iwa shinobi will have their shinobi scouring their territory to find us, so we have to be sneaky." He put his fingers together in his thinking symbol and closed his eyes as he sat. Sakura, knowing what he was doing, started to shakily stand and check their gear and find their travel rations. She rumaged through her bag and found four ration bars and found three more in Shikamarus. If he had a problem with her going through his bag, well, tough, but honestly she didnt think he would care, knowing him.

"Ok," He said, his low voice breaking the silence. Sakura looked up from her food and nodded at him to continue, all the while looking like a chipmunk with her food bulging in her cheeks and crumbs on her face. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow and smirked. ' _she looks kinda cute like that_ ' he thought to himself, then mentally shook his head back into focus, before he could further look into that thought. "Hm, well, I think if they will be expecting us to head south east to grass, and pass in their narrowest area and go back to fire country that way, we then, need to head south and go through rain and go down to the bottom of Fire, that way we can maybe sneak out with out them knowing where we are. It will be a four day trip to get to rain, then another four days to cross it, and then we should be in fire country. But knowing how Iwa is, they might be scouting the edge of fire country in case we come in. They will have to avoid anbu to do that, which would be extremely difficult, but doable. But they just might considering howe stubbornm they are, and even still hate us after the fourth shinobi war. so as i said before, we must be sneaky."

"Ok, I got it." Sakura nodded after she swallowed the last of her food. "Sounds as good as we can get right now." She said while handing one of the ration bars to shikamaru. He grimaced as he took it, mentally groaning at the thought of downing one of the chalky bars. "When are we heading out?" Sakura mumbled, leaning against his shoulder tiredly, not caring if he was annoyed by it or not. He wasnt, but groaned in 'annoyance' anyway, only to earn an halfhearted elbow in the stomach. "We will head out tonight. We will be traveling in a few hours with little to no stops on the way till we get closer to fire" he said, rubbing his stomach while stuffing his wrapper into his pack, then settled against the cave wall and sakura scooted back with him, causing the tips of his ears to turn red when he felt her warmth against his arm. "Lets get some sleep." He mumbled and hesitantly rested his head on his friends own, hearing sakura mutter a sleepy reply as she was already half asleep. ' _This really isnt the time for this..._ ' he thought with his face flushing along with his ears as he felt her warm breaths at the hollow of his neck and shoulder, ' _Really not the time._ '

He set up a quick gentjustu to ward anyone of from their hiding spot the quickly fell asleep.


End file.
